Jamie Lee Curtis is so enthusiastic about making a sequel to Freaky Friday that she’s been pitching it to Disney, going so far as writing to her connections in the studio.
Screen Rant reports that she even has a few ideas about what such a sequel would look like. Given that she is currently working with Disney on a Haunted Mansion remake, she has had plenty of opportunities to share her concept.
Freaky Friday has been made several times by Disney, starting with the 1976 version with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. It is an adaptation of a novel by Mary Rodgers and developed a following over three remakes and a musical. However, the best-known version stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter who trade bodies for a day, living each other’s lives.
Jamie Lee Curtis herself has the kind of clout to get the movie made. Both her parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, were famous actors of their era, with Leigh being known to this day for the famous shower scene in Psycho. Horror-thrillers are also where Jamie Lee Curtis got her start, debuting in the original Halloween as Laurie Strode, a role she still plays to this day.
Recently, during interviews promoting Halloween Ends, Jamie Lee Curtis talked about her upcoming work with Disney and her willingness to produce a Freaky Friday sequel. She is adamant that there is more to the story of Anna and Tess Coleman as life brings them new challenges. She explained some of her ideas recently on The View, including her enthusiasm to potentially work with Lindsay Lohan again.
“I’ve already written to… my friends at Disney,” Jamie Lee Curtis expressed. “Creatively I am wide open… Let me be the grandma, let me be the old grandma who switches places… so then Lindsay gets to be the sexy grandma who’s still happy with Mark Harmon in all the ways you would be happy with Mark Harmon… I would like to see Lindsay be the hot grandma, and I would like to see me try to deal with toddlers today. I want to be a helicopter parent in today’s world.”
If Lindsay Lohan and Mark Harmon were to express an interest in reprising their roles from the original Freaky Friday, then the 13th could strike the Coleman household again. With Jamie Lee Curtis, the other stars and a willing producer to move the project forward, Disney could easily agree to make a sequel. It would be entertaining to see how Tess deals with being a mom and how Anna reacts to a glimpse of her own aging.
Disney has not shied away from reboots and sequels in recent years. They have taken a selection of their animated library and filmed live-action versions, including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. The studio’s sequel to Hocus Pocus has recently dropped on Disney+, and Whoopie Goldberg is reprising her role in an announced Sister Act 3.
It is clear that Disney is not afraid to reuse and update its titles, so the proposal for a Freaky Friday 2 is something within the realm of possibility. It is also clear that Jamie Lee Curtis would be the driving force when it comes to making it happen since she is already publicly expressing her excitement at the prospect. Will we again get to see Tess and Anna trade places on Friday the 13th?
Fans can catch Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween Ends on October 14, either in theaters or streaming on Peacock. Also this year she appeared in Everything Everywhere All at Once, which is currently available on streaming, DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray. Haunted Mansion is due out in 2023.
